Merry Christmas to one and all

 

 

 

 As another year passes by, I reflect on the hobby from a personal point of view. It started out that I played games and painted toy soldiers so they looked better on the table when we did so. I rushed my paint jobs to get them on the table sometimes, a "that'll do" attitude sometimes kicking in at midnight the night before a big game. This year I have not played a single game (unless you count the occasions the youngest has made us fill the table with models and make the rules up as we go along), last year I squeezed in one game with the Brother in Law. Part of that may be due to the dreaded "C" as we call it in our house, but also life changes. People are busier with life, the weeks fly by. Regular wargames seem to be the reserve of the young or the retirees of the hobby, us in the middle roll dice when we can. I take more time with my painting these days and paint models that I have no idea what I would use them for in any kind of wargame. Painting is my stress release now, I take the decision that if I am not enjoying painting something, it gets put to one side for the time being and I move on to something else. Maybe in the new year I will make an effort to get some more games in.

I don't have anything new to show you right now as I have been furiously building and undercoating ready for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This will certainly encourage me to increase my output for the next couple of months, there are 101 contributors this year, so although I will be posting there, I will still be posting summary updates here if I remember as well.

Christmas will be a quiet affair with family as I am sure it probably is for most people this year. My buddies and I normally get together for some beers but we sensibly just had some beers over Zoom to keep our families that we will be seeing safe. I did have a mooch around Games Workshop (I still don't call their shops Warhammer, force of habit) and wondered whether to get something for the youngest for Christmas as he is showing an interest and is actually rather talented for his age at painting. In the end though I decided that part of the fun is choosing the models yourself, so maybe a trip in the new year with some Christmas money is in order.

So, as I have nothing to new to show, below is a photo dump from my camera reel of some favourites. I hope you have a lovely peaceful Christmas with friends or loved ones and Santa brings you the plastic or lead you deserve. Stay safe and remember to look out for one another.